Attorney appeals his case for nonprofit records said to be linked to Greitens
A St. Louis attorney is seeking documents from a nonprofit, A New Missouri, which has been accused of criminal activity in the past.
Elad Gross filed a lawsuit against the organization in June in Cole County Circuit Court. Judge Jon Beetem dismissed the case with prejudice in November finding that Gross did not have legal standing to bring a case against A New Missouri.
Later that month, Gross filed an appeal to the Missouri’s Western District Court of Appeals. He said that because A New Missouri claims to serve all Missourians, its records should be available for public scrutiny.
“(Former) Representative (Jay) Barnes (R, Jefferson City) explicitly found that this organization was a fake charity that was a criminal enterprise from its inception, designed to get around our campaign finance laws,” Gross told ABC 17 News Thursday.
While he served as the chair of a special committee on government oversight, Barnes investigated several matters related to then-Gov. Eric Greitens. The committee issued a subpoena to A New Missouri demanding documents related to Greitens’ campaign, but Greitens resigned before the documents were submitted.
“Those in charge of the Greitens’ campaign had a scheme to hide donor identities and attempt to funnel donors to a (c)(4) if a potential donor’s identity would either be politically troublesome or they were otherwise prohibited by federal or state law from contributing to the campaign,” Barnes wrote.
Gross is running to be state attorney general in 2020.
An attorney for A New Missouri did not offer comment Thursday.
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